CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 1
The epistle is addressed to the twelve tribes. The nation is not yet looked upon as finally rejected of God.
James writes to the dispersion, that is to say, to the Israelites dispersed everywhere in the midst of the Gentiles. Faith recognised the entire nation, as did Elijah in 1 Kings 18: 31, and as did Paul in Acts 26: 7. Faith recognised it, until the judgment of God was accomplished. In order to understand the counsels, the purposes of God, His assembly, the glory of Christ, and our place now in Christ, and hereafter with Him, we must read the writings of Paul.
[p. 111] The patience of God with His ancient people is here shewn, although James warns them that the Judge is before the door. He carefully distinguishes the believers (chapter 2: 1), though not yet separated from the people. Their privileges are not found in this epistle; they could not enjoy them in company with the unbelieving Jews; but he could point out to them — though in the midst of such — the difference of the Christian life, and it is of this James speaks.
He does not style himself an apostle; yet he was in a practical manner — not as an ordained elder, but from his personal influence, at the head of those Christians who were not separated from Judaism. He always thinks of Christians, and of the walk which became them in the midst of the nation. Peter, who wrote to a part of the Jewish dispersion, does not speak of the Jews, but calls the believers the nation, and addresses them as in the midst of the Gentiles (1 Peter 2: 10-12); but by James the Christian walk is described in terms which seldom go beyond what ought to have been found in a man of faith under the old covenant.
We see that he has Christians in his mind, but Christians who are on the lowest step of the ladder which reaches towards heaven. Yet, since in point of fact, we are upon the earth, this epistle is most useful, as pointing out the walk and the spirit which become us, however great our heavenly privileges may be. Although the light of our hearts is there above, a lantern for our feet is not to be despised, and it is all the more valuable, because we are in the midst of a Christian profession — of people who say they are believers. The epistle puts the truth of this profession to the proof. Whatever may have been the connection of the believers with the people, the writer of our epistle supposes faith in those to whom it is addressed — a faith which perhaps might have been practically found in a Jew before he believed in Jesus — therefore, with the addition of this belief, a true faith which had been produced by the word of God in the heart. As Paul himself, coming down from the height of the revelations granted him by God, recognises the faith of Lois and Eunice, and likens the faith of Timothy to that of these women.
[p. 112] Let us now examine the epistle itself. At its very commencement, temptations, the discipline of God in favour of the believer, are the test of faith; chapter 1: 2-12.
As to their position, they were associated with the people; the state of things which the writer has before his mind is a profession of the faith and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. We shall see that he addresses others with whom they were found linked, and warns believers against the spirit in which such walked.
The Jewish Christians were tried and persecuted. Peter also speaks of this in his epistle, encouraging them to suffer with patience. James exhorts them, as Paul also had done in Romans 5, to esteem persecution as all joy, and for the same reason that Paul had given. The trial of faith works patience; the will of man is broken; he has to wait for the operation of God; he feels his dependence on God, and that he lives in a scene where God alone can produce the result desired, overcoming and arresting the power of Satan. Often we may wish when occupied with good, that the work should be hastened, that difficulties should disappear, and that we should be freed from persecution; but the will of God — not ours — is good and wise: the works that are done upon the earth, He does them Himself Patience is the perfect fruit of obedience.
See what is said in Colossians 1: 11: “Strengthened with all might, according to the power of his glory” — what mighty deeds should not such strength produce! — “unto all patience and longsuffering, with joyfulness.” All might, according to the power of His glory, is needed to enable us to bear everything without murmuring, and even with joy, since all comes from the hand of God. It is His will, not our own, which sustains the heart. When Paul, in 2 Corinthians 12: 12, gives us the signs of an apostle, the first is patience with all longsuffering. Paul also gives us the key to this apparent contradiction: “We rejoice in hope of the glory of God; and not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us,” Romans 5: 3-5.
When the love of God is known, and the will broken, there is confidence in God. We know that all comes from Him, and that He makes all work together for our greatest blessing. Thus the trying of our faith works patience. But patience must have her perfect work: otherwise the will revives, also confidence in self, instead of having it in God. We act without God, and apart from His will, we do not wait upon Him, or in any case impatience and the flesh shew themselves in us. Job was subject for a long time, but patience did not have her perfect work. Saul waited long for Samuel, but he could not wait quietly till Samuel came, and he lost the kingdom. He did not wait for the Lord, conscious that he could do nothing of his own will, and apart from God: patience had not her perfect work.
[p. 113] Now affliction, the dealing of God which acts for us externally, and inwardly too, by His grace, puts patience to the proof; and when this work is accomplished and we are wholly subject to God, desiring nothing apart from His will, we are perfect and entire, lacking nothing. Not that we have nothing to learn as to acquaintance with His will; we find the contrary in verse 5, which follows; but the state of soul is perfect, as to the will, as to our relations with God; and He can reveal His will to us, for it is the only thing we desire. See 1 Peter 1: 6, 7.
Patience had her perfect work in the Lord. He felt deeply the affliction He passed through in this world, and felt it more than we do.
He could weep over Jerusalem, and at the sight of the power of death over the hearts of men. The refusal of His love was a perpetual source of grief to Him. He upbraided the cities in which most of His mighty works were done, but He is perfect in His patience, and in that hour He said, “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes,” Matthew 11. He gives thanks at the same moment that He upbraids. We see the same thing in John 12. In both cases His soul, being perfectly subject to His Father’s will, expands with joy at the prospect of all that which is the result of submission.
Christ could never lack divine wisdom. But with us it is very possible that wisdom may be lacking, even when will is subject, and we truly desire to do the will of God. Therefore the promise follows, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not.” Absence of will, obedience, and the spirit of confiding dependence which waits on God, characterise the new life. We pass through tribulation in the world; but this life develops itself in these qualities. But it is necessary this confidence should be in exercise; otherwise we can receive nothing. It does not honour God to distrust Him. Such a man is double-minded, like a wave of the sea driven by the wind. He is unstable, because his heart is not in communion with God; he does not live in a way to know Him; such an one is, of course, unstable. If a believer keeps in the presence of God, near Him, he knows Him, and will understand His will; he will not have a will of his own, and will not wish to have one; not only on the ground of obedience, but because he has more confidence in the thoughts of God concerning him than he has in his own will.
[p. 114] Faith in the goodness of God gives courage to seek and to do His will. We have in Christ Himself a perfect and beautiful example of these principles of the divine life. Tempted by Satan, He has no will of His own; it does not stir; but He shews that man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. It is absolute and perfect obedience. The will of God is not only the rule but the sole motive for action. When the tempter desires Him to throw Himself down from the temple, to see whether God will be true to His promises, Jesus will in no way be tempted; He cannot question His faithfulness. He waits quietly for the power of God, whenever the occasion may present itself for manifesting it, in the path of His will.
Such faith and confidence are indeed a sign that the soul is near to God, living in intimacy and fellowship with Him. Such an one will be assured that God hears him. This is what forms the soul in the difficulties and trials of this present life, so that it can be said, “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation.”
Verses 9-11 are parenthetical; The new man belongs to the new creation; he is its first-fruits, but he nevertheless finds himself down here in a world, the glory of which passes away as the flower of the grass. Thus the brother of low degree is exalted to have fellowship with Christ, and to share His glory. However humble he may be, he becomes, even in this world, the companion of all the brethren. “God hath chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him.” The rich own them as brethren, and they meet together at the Lord’s table, as possessors of the same privileges. On the other hand the rich man, if he is faithful, cannot walk in worldly grandeur, in the pride and vanity of a world which has rejected the Lord. He makes himself — God has made him — the brother of the poor man who loves the Lord. They enjoy the communion of the Spirit together, and share the most precious and intimate things of life. They rejoice together; the poor man in his exaltation — Christ is not ashamed to call such ‘brethren’ — and the rich man glories in that title much more than in all those that belong to him in the world. That title is despised in the world, and counted for nothing; but he knows that the glory of this world passes away as the flower of the grass, and he rejoices in being the companion of those whom the Lord of glory owns as His. The world will pass away, and the spirit of the world is already passed from the heart of the spiritual Christian. He who takes the lowest place shall be great in the kingdom of God.
[p. 115] All this is very far removed from the spirit of envy and jealousy, which would like to pull down all that is above it. It is not selfishness, but the Spirit of love, which comes down to walk with the lowly, who are not little in the sight of God; like Christ, who indeed had the right to reign, and to be first, but who came down, in order to be with us, and made Himself a servant in the midst of His disciples. For us the glory of this world is only vanity and deceit. Love likes to serve, selfishness to be served.
The apostle returns to the character of the new man, for whom life down here is a test. He is blessed when he passes through temptations, and bears them with patience. This is the normal state of the Christian; 1 Peter 4: 12. The desert is his pathway, his calling is patience here and glory hereafter. Tested here, through grace he abides faithful and unmoved in temptation and trial, and afterwards he shall inherit the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him. The life that has no trials is no life, but he who is tried is blessed. The life is not down here, though it is indeed passing through the wilderness. We are on the journey, not in the rest; it is not yet the life in the rest and glory of Christ.
In order to develop this life, the affections must be set upon the promised crown and blessings. When we have the life of Christ, we need to be exercised in order that the heart may detach itself from things around, which constantly invite the attention of the flesh, and that the will may not yield. Resisting the allurements of vanity, the heart should habitually keep itself by grace in the way of holiness, and in the enjoyment of heavenly things in communion with God. Now trials borne with patience help greatly to this result. A heart weaned from vanity is an immense gain to the soul. If the world is dry and arid for the heart, it more readily turns to the fountain of living waters.
[p. 116] There is, however, a second meaning to the word “temptation.” Though it often signifies trial from outward circumstances, it is also employed for another sort of trial — that which comes from within, the temptation from lust, which is entirely different. God can try us externally, in order to bless us, and He does so. He tried Abraham, but He cannot in any way tempt by lust. When it is a question, not of putting obedience and patience to the test, but of sin, the condition of the soul is dealt with, for its correction and advancement. But as regards the calling forth of lust, it cannot be said that God tempts. “God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man, but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.”
Christ Himself was tested of God throughout His whole life, and nothing but a sweet savour came forth. Always perfect in obedience, having come to do His Father’s will, He yet learned obedience in this world of sin and enmity against God. Satan desired to rouse self-will in Him, but in vain. He was indeed led of the Spirit to be tempted of the devil, but that He might overcome him for us, who, through sin, are subject to his power.
No lust was found in Him; but He was capable of being hungry, and He suffered hunger. He had been declared by the Father’s voice to be the Son of God, and Satan desired that He should leave the place of servant, which He had taken in becoming man, and do His own will: therefore he suggests to Him to make bread of the stones. Here we have a temptation of the enemy; but the Lord abides in His perfection; He would live by the word which proceeded from the mouth of God. God put Him to the proof through suffering, but no lust was found in Him; and when Satan would make use of hunger — which is a human need apart from sin, and was found in Christ as a man — He remained in perfect obedience, and had no other motive for action than His Father’s will.
[p. 117] With us there are temptations springing from the inner man, from lust, altogether different from the trials coming from without, which test the state of the heart, detecting selfwill, if we are not perfectly subject to the will of God, or if we are actuated by other motives besides His will.
Now James is always practical. He does not search out the root of everything in the heart, as Paul does; he takes lust as the source which produces actual sin. Paul shews that the sinful nature is the source of lust — an important distinction, which also illustrates the difference between the two writers, or the object of the Holy Ghost in the Epistle of James, namely, the outward practical life, as the evidence of the character of that life, which owes its origin to the word of God, that had wrought through faith. With James, lust — the first movement of the sinful nature which discloses its real character — having conceived, brings forth sin, and sin being finished, brings forth death. It is the history of the workings of the evil nature. James is occupied with its effects, Paul with its source, in order that we may know ourselves; Romans 8: 8.
Then in opposition to lust, and shewing the action of God, which is not to tempt, but, on the contrary, to produce good, James tells us that “every good and perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures,” verse 17, 18. As I have said, he owns grace as the sole and divine source of the good that is in us, as born of God, and that through faith, since it is by the word of truth. By it we are born again; it is a new life, and that by the will of God. We belong to the new creation; we are its first-fruits. Immense blessing! which belongs not only to a new position, though it is that, but also to a new nature which makes us capable of enjoying God. James does not speak of righteousness through grace, but of an entirely new nature, which comes from God.
Thus, self-will being broken, and self-confidence destroyed, he exhorts us, as those who receive all from grace, to be willing to hear rather than to speak, to be slow to wrath, which is but the impatience of the old man, for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. He who is taught of God is subject to Him. He lays aside all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receives with meekness the ingrafted word. This is an important passage, for it presents the condition of the man of God, and that which acts upon him. The will of the flesh does not act in him, nor does self-will; he hearkens to what God says, he receives His [word] with meekness, and is subject to it. Then God engrafts the word in his heart. It is not knowledge merely, but the truth of God, His word which is able to save the soul. It is both the seed of the divine life, and that which forms it.
[p. 118] The sanctifying word is ingrafted in him; the graft is introduced there by God, the new man which brings forth the desired fruit. But this life must be expressed in practice. A man must be a doer of the word, not a hearer only; otherwise, there is no longer reality, but he is like a man beholding his natural face in a glass; he goes away and all disappears, all is forgotten. “But he that looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein — he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the word — this man is blessed in his deed.”
We find here an important expression — “The law of liberty.” If I tell my child to remain in the house when he wishes to go out, he may obey; but it is not a law of liberty to him; he restrains his will. But if I afterwards say, Now go where you wish to go; he obeys, and it is a law of liberty, because his will and the command are the same; they run together.
The will of God was for Jesus a law of liberty. He came to do His Father’s will, He desired nothing else. Blessed state! It was perfection in Him, a blessed example for us. The law is a law of liberty when the will, the heart of man, coincides perfectly in desire with the law imposed upon him — imposed in our case by God — the law written in the heart. It is thus with the new man as with the heart of Christ. He loves obedience, and loves the will of God because it is His will, and as having a nature which answers to what His will expresses, since we partake of the divine nature; in fact it loves that which God wills.
Verses 26, 27. But there is an index to what is found in the heart, which, more than any other, betrays what is within. This index is the tongue. He who knows how to govern his tongue is a perfect man, and able to bridle the whole body. The appearance of religion is vain if the tongue be not bridled; such a man deceives his own heart.
[p. 119] True religion is shewn by love in the heart, and by purity — keeping himself unspotted from the world. It thinks of others, for those who are in distress, in need of protection, and the help and support of love, as widows and orphans. The truly religious heart, full of the love of God, and moved by Him, thinks, as God does, upon sorrow, weakness, and need. It is the true Christian character.
The second mark of Christian life, given by James, is to be unspotted from the world. The world is corrupt, it lies in sin, it has rejected the Saviour — God come in grace. It is not only that man has been cast out of Eden because he was a sinner — which is true, and suffices for his condemnation — but there is more. God has done much to reclaim him. He gave the promises to Abraham, He called Israel to be His people, He sent the prophets, and, last of all, His only Son. God Himself came in grace; but man, as far as he could do it, cast out the God who was in the world in grace. Therefore the Lord said, “Now is the judgment of this world.” The last thing God could do was to send His Son, and He has done it. “I have yet,” He said, “one Son, my well-beloved; may be they will reverence him when they see him. And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.”
The world is a world which has already rejected the Son of God, and where does it find its joy? In God or in Christ? No; in the pleasures of the flesh, in grandeur, in riches; it seeks to make itself happy without God, that it may not feel its want of Him. It would not need thus to seek happiness in pleasures, if it were happy. Formed by God with a breath of life for Himself, man cannot be satisfied with anything less than God. Read the history of Cain. Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod.+ Then he built a city, and called it after the name of his son, Enoch. Afterwards, Jabal was the father of such as have cattle (the riches of that day), and his brother’s name was Jubal, the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. And Zillah bare Tubal-Cain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron.
We have here the world and its civilisation complete; not having God, they must make the world pleasant and beautiful. It will be said: But what is the harm of harps and organs?
None, surely; the harm is in the heart of man, who uses these things to make himself happy without God, forgetting Him, flying from Him, seeking to content himself in a world of sin, and to drown the misery of this condition of alienation from God, by hiding himself in the corruption that reigns there. The elegance which man affects makes him, only too often, slip insensibly into this corruption, which he seeks to conceal with mirth.
+Nod is the same word as vagabond (Genesis 4: 14). He built a city, where God had made him a vagabond, and this is what man has done.
[p. 120] But the new man born of God, partaking of the divine nature, cannot find its delight in the world; it shuns that which would separate it from God. Where the flesh finds its happiness and its pleasures, the spiritual life finds none. James speaks of actual corruption; but he does not speak as though one part of the world were corrupt and another pure; on the contrary, it is defiled and corrupt in its principles, and in every way. He who is conformed to it is corrupt in his walk. The friendship of the world is enmity against God. Whoever will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God. We must keep ourselves pure from the world itself. We have, indeed, to pass through it, and to be in passing through it the epistle of Christ, undefiled by the world which surrounds us, as Christ was undefiled, in the midst of a world that would not receive Him.